The county commission or board of education in any county is hereby authorized to appropriate funds to any public school under the control of the county board of education and to any county high school for the purpose of establishing, maintaining, enlarging or improving public libraries in such schools.

The State Superintendent of Education, with the advice of the Director of the Department of Archives and History, shall compile and publish a carefully selected and annotated list of books from which the libraries herein provided shall be chosen, and he shall also adopt and publish rules and regulations for the choice of books, their use, preservation and circulation, the erection of bookshelves or bookcases, the equipment of library rooms or buildings and the training of librarians or custodians for the libraries. The selection shall be as nearly as possible representative of the whole field of literature, and maximum prices for purchase shall be indicated.

Any county board of education may in lieu of granting separate libraries for each school establish a system of circulating libraries, said libraries to be purchased under the same conditions and in keeping with the plan set out in the previous sections of this chapter by the county superintendent of education. Such circulating libraries shall be available for use in the public schools of the county under rules and regulations prescribed by the county board of education with the approval of the State Board of Education.

The Alabama Virtual Library as currently administered is recognized and established as an educational entity for public school students. The Alabama Virtual Library may receive allocations from the Education Trust Fund Rainy Day Account pursuant to Amendment 709 to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901.